


Beloved

by Teigh



Series: Wee Fic Word Prompts [10]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-01-30
Updated: 2006-01-30
Packaged: 2017-10-11 16:51:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/114549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teigh/pseuds/Teigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riley in Season Four.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beloved

He is not superstitious, but still is conscientous enough to step over, instead of on, cracks in the sidewalk. Daylight observer, easy in stride, he moves across well-tended grass, across level concrete. He loves this campus, is shaken by the strength of his love for California and this town in particular. Sunshine and hope bound together in one word; that is his Sunnydale. Oh, he's no fool - they had handpicked him to lead after all, chosen him to stand against the vermin, those that would drain his blood, eat his eyes, slurp up his intestines like linguine if he ever faltered. He knows the weight of his work well. His men make cracks and laugh about Sunnydale. He can appreciate the irony of an unending stream of hostiles in a tiny Southern Californian town. But still he holds that name forth as an ideal, the well-polished truth he and his men are striving to protect through the long nights.

He's not superstitious, but he can't help believing in Fate. Particularly when fate knocks him upside the head with a psychology text book and grants him a vision. Beauty, sunshine caught in a wide - albeit nervous - smile, gleam of day entangled in her hair. She stole both breath and thought, leaving him with Kipling. _O Best Beloved_, his mother's voice whispers as he watches her walk away.

And then.

Then he turns on the light and finds her - feral eyeshine, teeth snarl, a crossbow loaded and pointed at the throat. Diminutive Amazon, all mingled grace and strength and fury. He's not superstitious, but he's no fool. When goddesses are self-sufficient, he knows knights become irrelevant. Her success cast him past shadows, into darkness.

And then.

Then he turns on the light one night, and the roaches don't go skittering off into shadows. The shambling monstrosity - as poorly constructed as his cousin Tabby's first knitted sweater - opened mismatched eyes and called him brother. Truth in two syllables. A sucking chest wound that strips his righteousness away, leaving echoes and word associations.

Brother.

Part of the brotherhood.  
First among equals.  
First among warriors.  
First among jackals.

_O Best Beloved._


End file.
